Which DNA test would be best

[Gavsmum]

Hi
I'm looking for advice on which DNA test to take and also which service to use.  I would like to confirm that my father's mother was part gipsy (through her mother I think) and where these ancestors originally came from.  I'm female but can get my brother to do the test but I'm not sure if going through the male line will be any help when It's my father's mother that I am concerned with.

Many thanks

[davidft]

Sorry to disappoint you but as far as I am aware there are no DNA tests that can confirm you are part "gypsy". As you see from this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsies

there are several different groups that could be called gypsies or travellers and they come from many different parts of the world.

If you wanted to make any progress you would have to determine first what you meant by "gypsy" in your own case. Even then though you could find that the geographical ancestry any test revealed could not distinquish between a gypsy and a non gypsy.

As to where ancestors came from there is a test for this it is the autosomal test (companies like ftDNA.com and others offer it or equivalent) and what these do is determine your ancestry into broad categories eg Scandinavia, European coastal islands. However as they only have 18 classifications you can see there is not a lot of precision

This is ftDNA's classifications

•European Coastal Plain -> Western and Central Europe
•East African Pastoralists -> East Central Africa
•Trans Ural Peneplain -> Eastern Europe
•Bering Expansion -> Native American
•North African Coastlands -> North Africa
•Asian Northeast -> Northeast Asia
•Eurasian Heartland -> Central Asia
•North Mediterranean Basin -> Southern Europe
•Niger-Congo Genesis -> West Africa
•European Coastal Islands -> British Isles
•North Circumpolar -> Finland and Northern Siberia
•European Northlands -> Scandinavia
•Anatolian and Caucasus -> Asia Minor
•Jewish Diaspora -> Ashkenazi Diaspora
•Kalahari Basin -> South-Central Africa
•East Asian Coastal Islands -> Southeast Asia
•Indian Tectonic Plate -> South Asia
•Eastern Afro-asiatic -> Eastern Middle East

[Gavsmum]

Hi David

Many thanks for the information, it was a great help.  I'm thinking of going ahead with the autosomal test and if I have a category in Asia, this would probably be the Gypsy DNA.  I have had a quick look on line and I came across Britishdna.com.  Do you know of this one?

Lindsey

[davidft]

The reason I mentioned ftDNA is that is who I tested with. They allegedly have the largest number of customers which is good for comparing results with others and do have various project groups eg by surname so people with the same surname can see if they can establish connections. The downside is that they are US based so a lot of their customers are American.

Yes I have heard of Britain's DNA. I have never been convinced by them and don't think they have as good a back up as ftDNA. (However if I am wrong I would be happy to be corrected by anyone who has the details). I believe they are also more expensive from what I can work out.

Before going ahead I would have a look at some of the links at the top of the board that has links to various articles about DNA which may answer some of your questions, or indeed prompt others

Finally, you may want to put a post in the "Travelling people" section to see if anyone there can make any suggestions that may help prove "Gypsy" inheritance or not

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?board=387.0

[Gavsmum]

I thought ftDNA must have been American because the charges were in dollars which put me off at the time but as you say they are not so expensive as Britishdna and I would rather go for the one you have recommended.  I will have a look at the links at the top of the board first, as you suggested, before going ahead.

Many thanks again.

Lindsey